


Paper Games

by aperture_living



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-08
Updated: 2013-05-08
Packaged: 2017-12-10 18:31:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/788890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aperture_living/pseuds/aperture_living
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zack had started it as a joke after one of the sketchier emails Kunsel had sent (<i>See, I know everything about you, even if you never tell me anything.</i>).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Paper Games

**Author's Note:**

> Another old fic of mine that I still find a little fun.

Zack had started it as a joke after one of the sketchier emails Kunsel had sent ( _See, I know everything about you, even if you never tell me anything._ ). He had to admit, he always was curious to test theories only hinted at in textual script. Spending a few gil on some children’s sidewalk chalk, he slid along one of the store walls in Sector 8 and drew a small grid of four lines complete with an “X” in the middle. He stepped back, took a second to admire his handiwork, and nodding to himself, slid the chalk (sunny yellow) back into the colorful box before stealing away. 

He had expected it to be gone the next day, washed away by exasperated store keepers, wiped clean under the orders of management, and so his expectations were low when he ducked back down the alley. Hm. Funny that.

A small smirk caught his lips as saw a soft blue “O” waiting for him in the upper left square.

One letter meant little in the game of Tic-Tac-Toe, especially when he wasn’t a hundred percent sure it wasn’t some random passerby; chalk was cheap and kids were curious. Placing his own “X” rather strategically (lower left), he slid off to test more theories. 

Down by the Aerith’s church (not on it though; she had scolded him when he had tried), Zack started Hangman. Over in Sector 5, he drew a series of condensed dots and a single line, a game he learned in the more boring aspects of the academy that would end up in restless boxes.

Every day, he would return, and every day there would be a new response, a new letter guessed, a new line drawn, a new space invaded by an “O”. Every day, he found new tactics in the games, found his levels playfully tested, left the church a few minutes earlier so he could hit them all on his way home. Every day, Kunsel never let him down. 

It took two weeks, three Tic-Tac-Toe games, two Dot-and-Boxes grids, and one Hangman loss (“Testing A Theory!”) before it was his turn to find something, a chalk-scrawled message (still in blue, always in blue) spread over his military-apartment wall. The handwriting was the same quick staccato that came with the letters from of their previous word game, so there was no doubt as to the scribe. Not that he expected anyone else to be foolish enough to sneak into a 1st Class’ apartment and write on their walls, really.  
 __

  
Told you so.

Believe me now? __  


Zack stared at the message for a long moment, half-curious as to how Kunsel had gotten in here (okay, not _really_ ), and half-amused that it was his turn for the game, his turn for the test, only this time on Kunsel’s terms. If it was a challenge the 2nd Class wanted, well who was Zack to shy away from that? And besides, Kunsel wasn’t the only one who was adept at breaking and entering; it had been one of their first classes, outside of basic combat.

The sky blue words, Zack found, stayed on his walls for three-weeks and roughly ten hours. It was the same amount of time the large chocobo yellow _Yes_ stayed on Kunsel’s.


End file.
